Black History

Ed Dwight: Internationally Renowned Artist and Former Air Force Test Pilot

Ed Dwight is an artist and former U.S. Air Force test pilot who was America’s first African American astronaut candidate.

Published

1 year ago

February 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Capt. Edward J. Dwight, Jr., the first African American selected as a potential astronaut, looks over a model of Titan rockets in November 1963. Bettmann Archive / Getty Images.

By Conway Jones

Ed Dwight is an artist and former U.S. Air Force test pilot who was America’s first African American astronaut candidate.

Born in 1933, he grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, showing artistic talent and mechanical gifts early in childhood.

While in college in the 1950s, Dwight saw an article in a newspaper with an image of a downed African American pilot in Korea.

“I said, ‘Oh my God, they’re letting Black people fly,’” Dwight said. “I went straight to the recruitment office and said, ‘I want to fly.’”

“My first flight was the most exhilarating thing in the world,” said Dwight. “There were no streets or stop signs up there. You were free as a bird.”

Before entering the military, Dwight had earned an Associates in Arts degree in engineering and while training to become at test pilot near Phoenix, Ariz., he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering in 1957.

In 1961, he was handpicked by President John F. Kennedy’s White House to join Chuck Yeager’s test pilot program at Edwards Air Force Base in California’s Mojave Desert. He was the first African American to enter NASA’s astronaut training program.

Dwight’s path to NASA disappeared after Kennedy’s assassination. He was never selected for the space program, and he resigned from the Air Force in 1966.

Afterward, he supported himself. In various ways: as an engineer, real estate, a job with IBM and even opening a barbecue restaurant in Denver, Colo. But he continued to work with his hands, particularly and built things with scrap metal, according to Wikipedia.

Enter Ed, Dwight, artist.

In 1975, the Colorado Centennial Commission commissioned him to create a series of bronzes depicting the contribution of Blacks to the American Frontier. The series of 50 bronzes was exhibited for several years throughout the United States.

In 1979, he created a bronze series entitled “JAZZ: An American Art Form,” that portrayed the history and historical roots of jazz. The series, now consists of over 70 bronzes that characterize the creation and evolution of jazz from its African and European roots to the fusion of contemporary music.

In 2005, Joyce Gordon hosted a one-man exhibit for Dwight in 2005 at her downtown Oakland art gallery.

“Ed Dwight is a phenomenal artist. His bronzes reflect the soul of Black Americans, their struggle, their resolve, their inner peace.” said Joyce Gordon. “His art reflects the soul of Black America.”

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Oakland Post: Week of June 4 – 10, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 4-10, 2025

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5 days ago

June 7, 2025

Oakland Post

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Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.